Everyone in Washington knows crime is a rising problem, and the exploding drug abuse crisis is a major reason why. People who have been paying attention understand that the laws passed by Washington State Democrats in 2021, to essentially legalize hard drugs and prohibit police from pursuing suspects, have contributed greatly to both of those realities. These Democrat laws prioritize criminal rights ahead of police being able to do their job, and as the public sees daily more of the problems with this so-called progressive approach, Democrats are on the run to show they actually care about public safety. So, they want you to ignore the impact of their laws, and blame someone else – like the messenger!

If you listen to the Democrat legislators who support these criminal-first policies, neither crime nor drugs is the problem.  Instead, according to State Senator T’wina Nobles, people are being misled because “fear has been instilled in them from our local law enforcement”. Her Seattle House colleague Julia Reed, in a town hall meeting this week, puts the blame squarely on a “massive misinformation campaign” that is even confusing her fellow progressives: “I see so many of my Democrat colleagues buying into it, and that really has been personally quite painful for me.”

Senate Republican leader John Braun had a different thought on who might be pained by the Democrats’ approach: “Democrats who support pursuit reform were not tricked. Like us, they are listening to the people who are tired of the lawlessness in our communities and are doing their jobs as public servants.” You get to decide, what’s causing crime to rise – criminals emboldened by bad laws or law enforcement and misinformation campaigns? (KING 5, TVW, YouTube, Center Square)

Parents and teachers across Washington State are well aware of the toll that COVID lockdowns had on their children. But if Democrat legislators care much about what the state’s prolonged COVID shutdowns did to students, they certainly aren’t talking about it much. They will have to get outside their bubble, because it’s only places like the Vancouver Columbian that are reporting that “New data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the cognitive development of preschool-aged children in Washington, particularly those of color and in low-income communities.” Indeed, the numbers do not lie, as “a 2019 study found that 79 percent of children completing developmental screenings were at proper cognitive levels for their age. In a similar study in 2022, just 62 percent of such children were found to be developmentally on-level.” But the Democrats sure flattened that curve didn’t they.  (Columbian)

Democrats have had a difficult time this legislative session explaining why possessing heroin and fentanyl should be legal in our state when at the same time they are asking for billions in new spending to deal with homelessness, drug addiction and rising crime obvious in our streets, even as Senate Bill 5536 (the so-called “Blake fix”) advances through the process to try and swing the pro-criminal pendulum in a little different direction. Left-wing legislators seem to be the only ones who do not see the connection between their criminals-first policies and the problems created. But at least they have friends in the media that will carry their story for them. (Inlander)

The numbers don’t lie, but bureaucrats will spin. The latest audit report on COVID aid spending is out, and the majority of Washington counties “received findings for shortcomings on federal grant accounting.”  But not to worry taxpayers. People were being careful with the trillions being shoveled out the door by your friendly government officials at all levels, at least according to the spokesperson for local bureaucrats, who “said some federal programs, like the Coronavirus Relief Fund, sent hundreds of millions of dollars to local agencies with vague guidance and just months to spend the money. ‘It was really a time crunch. There’s a lot of technicality in some of these [audit] findings that we would argue were pretty bureaucratic,” said the bureaucrat who spends his life doing bureaucrat things to taxpayers. (Crosscut).

Remember all those news stories about how welcoming people are up here in the upper left-hand corner of the country? Not anymore, as the Seattle Nice showed to the new top coffee boss meant “unionized Starbucks baristas welcomed their new CEO with what they planned to be strikes at about 100 cafes Wednesday.” Sounds like a grande of trouble with whipped bad karma kind of drink. (Seattle Times)

When you become the first woman to chair the most important committee in the House of Representatives, you are bound to start getting more national attention.  And the Fifth Congressional District’s Cathy McMorris Rodgers was certainly up to the task today, calling out a certain social media company. As reported by Axios, “ByteDance is beholden to the CCP, and ByteDance and TikTok are one and the same,” said Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), accusing the platform of lying about ties to the Chinese government. Tough words from someone who can make it tough on opponents from her position over the next few years. (Axios)

It’s not like it was their money

For the Left, everything is an excuse for raising taxes

But remember, he only had emergency power control over everything in WA during 975 days of this “presiding”

To get early insight into what might make Shift’s next Daily Briefing worth reading, tune in to 570 KVI on your AM dial weekday mornings at 8:05, to hear John Carlson talk Washington State legislative politics with Shift co-founder Randy Pepple. And you can always stay for the rest of the Commute with Carlson by tuning in here.

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